The Ivor Novello headline award looks like it could be Brit Award category this year. Dizzee Rascal, Bat for Lashes and La Roux are up for the best contemporary song. If the awards carry on this way they will end up as simply ignored footnotes. Not that these acts aren’t good – but would even La Roux fans claim it was the defining song of the last year? It was an enjoyable pop song to bop about to, but little more. There was no depth and nothing particularly new.

A rather strange category on top of this is “most performed song” – which surely has to go to Girls Aloud for their ubiquitous song, The Promise.  This was a great pop song – but is “most performed”, for which you can read “most overplayed” really an accolade?

Where the awards redeems itself though is in the Best Song Musically and Lyrically category (though how this differs from Best Contemporary Song, given that song’s are music and lyrics, is unclear). Here we have Lily Allen battling two comparatively obscure acts; The Leisure Society and Patch William. The latter has had huge praise from Stephen Fry on twitter who says: Might Patch William be the next big thing? They seem rather wonderful to me . A performance of the nominated song The Last Bus is below for you to make up your mind.

We do also have to tip our hat to the awards for nominating Neil Hannon’s award for The Duckworth Lewis Method. What this confirms though is that there is a real tension in these awards between recognising great music, and pandering to the mainstream to get attention and press.

And here’s the full list of nominations:

BEST CONTEMPORARY SONG

Song: Bonkers
Writer/s: Dylan Mills / Armand Van Helden
Performed By: Dizzee Rascal
UK Publisher/s: Notting Hill Music / Bug Music

Song: Daniel
Writer/s: Natasha Khan
Performed By: Bat for Lashes
UK Publisher/s: Chrysalis Music

Song: In For The Kill
Writer/s: Elly Jackson / Ben Langmaid
Performed By: La Roux
UK Publisher/s: Big Life Music

BEST SONG MUSICALLY AND LYRICALLY

Song: Save It For Someone Who Cares
Writer/s: Nick Hemming
Performed By: The Leisure Society
UK Publisher/s: Notting Hill Music

Song: The Fear
Writer/s: Lily Allen / Greg Kurstin
Performed By: Lily Allen
UK Publisher/s: Universal Music Publishing / EMI Music Publishing

Song: The Last Bus
Writer/s: Ed Adlard / Will Adlard / Ali Digby / George Eddy
Performed By: Patch William
UK Publisher/s: Chrysalis Music

BEST TELEVISION SOUNDTRACK

Broadcast: Desperate Romantics
Composer: Daniel Pemberton
UK Publisher/s: Moncur Street Music

Broadcast: Life
Composer: George Fenton
UK Publisher/s: Shogun Music Ltd

Broadcast: Red Riding 1974
Composer: Adrian Johnston
UK Publisher/s: Manners, McDade and McCleery Music

ALBUM AWARD

Album: The Duckworth Lewis Method
Writer/s: Neil Hannon / Thomas Walsh
Performed By: The Duckworth Lewis Method
UK Publisher/s: Sony/ATV Music Publishing

Album: Sunny Side Up
Writer/s: Paolo Nutini
Performed By: Paolo Nutini
UK Publisher/s: Warner/Chappell Music

Album: Tongue N’ Cheek
Writer/s: Nicholas Detnon / Dylan Mills
Performed By: Dizzee Rascal
UK Publisher/s: Notting Hill Music

PRS FOR MUSIC MOST PERFORMED WORK

Song: Broken Strings
Writer/s: James Morrison / Fraser T Smith / Nina Woodford
Performed By: James Morrison featuring Nelly Furtado
UK Publisher/s: Sony/ATV Music Publishing / Chrysalis Music

Song: The Fear
Writer/s: Lily Allen / Greg Kurstin
Performed By: Lily Allen
UK Publisher/s: Universal Music Publishing / EMI Music Publishing

Song: The Promise
Writer/s: Nick Coler / Miranda Cooper / Brian Higgins / Kieran Jones / Tim Powell / Jason Resch / Carla Williams
Performed By: Girls Aloud
UK Publisher/s: Warner/Chappell Music

BEST ORIGINAL FILM SCORE

Film: Ice Age 3: Dawn of the Dinosaurs
Composer: John Powell
UK Publisher/s: EMI Music Publishing

Film: Skin
Composer: Helene Muddiman
UK Publisher/s: Mack Mummy Music Publishing

Film: The Young Victoria
Composer: Ilan Eshkeri
UK Publisher/s: Cutting Edge Music

BEST ORIGINAL VIDEO GAME SCORE

Game: Empire: Total War
Composer/s: Richard Beddow / Richard Birdsall / Walter Mair / Lorenzo Piggici / Simon Ravn
Developer: Creative Assembly
UK Publisher/s: SEGA

Game: Killzone 2
Composer/s: Joris de Man
Developer: Guerrilla Games
UK Publisher/s: Sony Computer Entertainment Europe

Game: Savage Moon: Waldgeist
Composer/s: Armin Elsaesser
Developer: FluffyLogic Development Ltd
UK Publisher/s: Sony Computer Entertainment Europe

The following `Gift of the Academy’ Awards will be presented on the day:

INTERNATIONAL ACHIEVEMENT
LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT
PRS FOR MUSIC OUTSTANDING CONTRIBUTION TO BRITISH MUSIC
SONGWRITER(S) OF THE YEAR
SPECIAL INTERNATIONAL AWARD
THE ACADEMY FELLOWSHIP
THE IVORS CLASSICAL MUSIC AWARD
THE IVORS INSPIRATION AWARD

Picture Courtesy of <Benoit>